Putting Values into Value Investing with Guy Spier

Guy Spier is a Zurich-based investor and the author of The Education of a Value Investor. Since 1997, he has managed Aquamarine Capital’s privately offered investment funds, with assets under management valued at over $250M. He previously worked as an investment banker in New York and as a management consultant in London and Paris. He has an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and holds a First-Class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford — the coveted PPE.

Guy and I first met in Davos as GLTs years back at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, and we almost reconnected, in of all places, the Omaha airport following the 2019 Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting, anyway… I wanted to talk to him about so many things, and we did in this episode.

Our conversation started with his first job being an experience not unlike the proverbial Wolf of Wall Street saga. Leaving that position was the genesis of Aquamarine Capital.

He explained what a hedge fund does in balancing risk, we discussed his holdings in his fund, and he detailed why he owns what he owns — somewhat of a “Growth at Reasonable Prices” strategy. Guy started Aquamarine with $15M and has grown it to over $250M in assets under management with around 150 investors. He uses a “Graham-Buffett-Munger-Pabrai philosophy” for…